OREGON — The Lady Hubs varsity soccer team may not have walked away from Oregon High School with a victory on Wednesday, but head coach Chris Blevins was pleased with how his girls performed in their first road game of the season.
The Lady Hawks struck first on a free kick (34’), and the lone goal was all Oregon needed to record a 1-0 victory over Rochelle. While the Lady Hubs didn’t get on the scoreboard, Blevins said he was happy with how his midfielders and his forwards were controlling the ball. Junior Rhylie Erdman led the team with three shots on goal, while sophomore Gillian Higby added one shot on goal in the loss.
“We were attacking and they were defending for probably 80 percent of the time,” Blevins said. “Our forwards were making runs… Alyssa [Cepeda] played her heart out. She was very aggressive and she was all over the place attacking and trying to get some good ball movement going for us.”

Sophomore Holli Drew ended the game with four saves for the Lady Hubs. It might have been difficult for the girls to put the ball in the net, but Blevins said the Rochelle defense did a great job of keeping the team within striking distance. Blevins said he was surprised by the play of senior Nancy Torres.
“Our defense is really what kept us in it,” he said. “Everyone was rock solid back there and they all worked their hearts out… For Nancy it was really the first time she had played on a big field, but she was really aggressive, she was always where she needed to be and she was willing to go head-on with the opposing players coming down.”
The girls will return to Rochelle Township High School on Thursday for their home opener against the Mendota Lady Trojans. A key shift that could help the Lady Hubs bring home their first win of the season is a potential switch from a 4-3-3 formation to a 4-4-2 formation, Blevins said.
“I don’t think we’re going to stick with it since we don’t quite have the control we need to play that type of formation,” he said. “We’re probably going to go back to our 4-4-2 starting Thursday against Mendota.”